Dennis Crosby
Dixie Lee
Phillip Crosby (twin brother)
Lindsay Crosby (brother)
Harry Crosby III (half-brother)
Mary Crosby (half-sister)
Nathaniel Crosby (half-brother)
Larry Crosby (uncle)
Bob Crosby (uncle)
Chris Crosby (cousin)
Dennis Michael Crosby (July 13, 1934 – May 4, 1991) was an American singer and occasional actor, the son of singer and actor Bing Crosby and his first wife Dixie Lee, and twin brother of Phillip Crosby. He was the father of Star Trek TNG actress Denise Crosby, who was named after him.
Early life
Dennis Crosby attended Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose with his other brothers where he graduated in 1952. He subsequently enrolled at Washington State University at Pullman on an animal husbandry course with his twin brother.[1] He dropped out of the course after two years and was inducted into the Army in January 1955. He was initially posted to Fort Ord, California and then transferred to Fort Riley in Kansas for training with the US 10th Infantry Division, which transferred for duty in West Germany in the summer of 1955.[1]
When he was 21 in 1955, Dennis inherited $200,000, equivalent to $2,275,000 in 2023, from his late mother's trust.[1]
Career
In the late 1950s, Dennis and his brothers Gary, Lindsay, and Phillip often performed as the Crosby Brothers in nightclubs and on The Ed Sullivan Show, though Dennis reputedly wished to avoid such appearances.[1]
Personal life
On May 4, 1958, Crosby married Pat Sheehan, a Las Vegas showgirl and model who had once dated his father, shortly after his mother had died. She was Miss San Francisco of 1950, Playmate of the month of October 1958, and a part-time actress.[2]
Within days, Crosby was sued by another woman, Marilyn Miller Scott, over the paternity of her daughter, Denise Crosby. The sensational lawsuit lasted three years, and ended with Dennis being ordered to pay Scott child support and legal fees.[1] This and the marriage to Sheehan and other details caused deep embarrassment for both him and his father. Although Bing Crosby died when his granddaughter was 19, the two reportedly never met.
Crosby and Sheehan had two sons: Dennis Michael Jr and Patrick Anthony. He adopted Gregory Crosby, who was his wife's son by a previous marriage.[3]
In 1963, while working in Los Angeles for Bing Crosby Productions, he met Arleen Newman. On July 3, 1964, Crosby and Sheehan were divorced. Later that year, Crosby married Newman. The couple had three daughters, including: Erin Colleen Crosby, born February 25, 1971, in Los Angeles, and Kelly Lee Crosby. Crosby adopted Newman's daughter, Catherine Denise Crosby, from her first marriage to Mike Buell, which ended in divorce. Crosby and Newman divorced in 1991.
On December 11, 1989, Crosby's younger brother Lindsay died by suicide by gunshot.
Death
Deeply distraught by his brother Lindsay's suicide and his own recent divorce, Crosby died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 4, 1991, in Novato, California, aged 56.[4] On January 14, 2006, Crosby's former wife, Pat Sheehan, died at the age of 74.
Their son Dennis Michael Crosby Jr. died on January 15, 2010. Patrick Anthony Crosby, born New Year's Eve 1960, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, on September 19, 2011, after a lengthy illness.
Family relations
- Son of Bing Crosby
- Brother of Phillip (twin), Gary and Lindsay Crosby
- Half-brother of Harry Crosby, Nathaniel Crosby and Mary Crosby
- Nephew of the bandleader Bob Crosby
- Cousin of Chris Crosby
- Father of Denise Crosby
Discography
- A Crosby Christmas (EP) – with Phillip Crosby, Gary Crosby, Lindsay Crosby and Bing Crosby (1950)
- The Crosby Brothers – Dennis – Philip – Lindsay Crosby (1960)
- Presenting the Crosby Brothers (MGM-C-846) (2000)
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1945 | Out of This World | Himself | |
1945 | Duffy's Tavern | ||
1962 | Sergeants 3 | Pvt. Page |
References
- ^ a b c d e "BING magazine". BING magazine. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ Clemens, Samuel (2020). Pat: A Biography of Hollywood's Blonde Starlet. Sequoia Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-578-68282-2.
- ^ "Dennis Crosby wants to adopt stepson". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. September 9, 1958.
- ^ "Bing Crosby's Son, Dennis, an Apparent Suicide at 56". The Washington Post. Washington, DC. May 8, 1991.
External links
- Dennis Crosby at IMDb
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- Music of Hawaii (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
- Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
- Cowboy Songs (Bing Crosby's first solo album) (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
- George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
- Ballad for Americans (Bing Crosby's first solo studio album)(1940)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
- Christmas Music (1940)
- Star Dust (1940)
- Hawaii Calls (1941)
- Small Fry (1941)
- Crosbyana (1941)
- Under Western Skies (1941)
- Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/ Fred Astaire) (1942)
- Merry Christmas (1945)
- Selections from Going My Way (1945)
- Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
- Don't Fence Me In (w/ The Andrews Sisters) (1946)
- The Happy Prince (1946)
- Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
- Bing Crosby – Stephen Foster (1946)
- What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
- Blue Skies (w/ Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin) (1946)
- Bing Crosby – Jerome Kern (1946)
- St. Patrick's Day (1947)
- Bing Crosby – Victor Herbert (1947)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
- Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
- Our Common Heritage (1947)
- El Bingo (1947)
- The Small One (1947)
- The Man Without a Country (1947)
- Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
- Blue of the Night (1948)
- Selections from Showboat (1948)
- The Emperor Waltz (1948)
- St. Valentine's Day (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
- Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from Broadway Shows (1948)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
- Auld Lang Syne (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings Cole Porter Songs (1949)
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
- Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin (1949)
- South Pacific (1949)
- Christmas Greetings (1949)
- Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
- Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1950)
- Songs from Mr. Music (w/ Dorothy Kirsten and The Andrews Sisters) (1950)
- Go West Young Man (w/ The Andrews Sisters) (1950)
- Collectors' Classics, Vols. 1–8 (1951)
- Way Back Home (1951)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from... (1951)
- Bing and the Dixieland Bands (1951)
- Yours Is My Heart Alone (1951)
- Country Style (1951)
- Beloved Hymns (1951)
- Bing and Connee (w/ Connee Boswell) (1952)
- When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1952)
- Themes and Songs from The Quiet Man (w/ Victor Young) (1952)
- Selections from the Paramount Picture "Just for You" (w/ Jane Wyman and The Andrews Sisters) (1952)
- Road to Bali (w/ Bob Hope and Peggy Lee) (1952)
- Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
- Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
- Bing Sings the Hits (1954)
- Selections from White Christmas (w/ Peggy Lee and Danny Kaye) (1954)
- Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
- The Country Girl / Little Boy Lost (1955)
- Merry Christmas (later version of 1945 78rpm album) (1955)
- Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1956)
- Home on the Range (1956)
- Blue Hawaii (1956)
- High Tor (w/ Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane) (1956)
- A Christmas Sing with Bing Around the World (1956)
- Anything Goes (w/ Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire) (1956)
- High Society (w/ Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and Louis Armstrong) (1956)
- Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
- Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
- Bing with a Beat (1957)
- A Christmas Story (1957)
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
- New Tricks (1957)
- The Bible Story of Christmas (1957)
- Never Be Afraid (1958)
- Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1958)
- Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1958)
- Around the World with Bing! (1958)
- Bing in Paris (1958)
- That Christmas Feeling (1958)
- In a Little Spanish Town (1958)
- Bing’s Buddies and Beaus (1959)
- Say One for Me (w/ Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner) (1959)
- How the West Was Won (w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1960)
- Join Bing and Sing Along (1960)
- Bing & Satchmo (w/ Louis Armstrong) (1960)
- Songs of Christmas (1960)
- 101 Gang Songs (1961)
- El Señor Bing (1961)
- My Golden Favorites (1961)
- The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
- Bing's Hollywood (set of 15 albums) (1962)
- On the Happy Side (1962)
- I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
- Holiday in Europe (1962)
- Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
- Return to Paradise Islands (1964)
- America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- Robin and the 7 Hoods (w/ Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.) (1964)
- 12 Songs of Christmas (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1965)
- That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1965)
- The Summit (w/ Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.) (1966)
- Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love (1966)
- Bing Crosby and The Columbus Boychoir Sing Family Christmas Favorites (w/ The Columbus Boychoir) (1967)
- Thoroughly Modern Bing (1968)
- Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love (1968 version) (1968)
- Hey Jude/Hey Bing! (1969)
- Goldilocks (1970)
- A Time to Be Jolly (1971)
- Bing 'n' Basie (w/ Count Basie) (1972)
- Rhythm on the Range (1972)
- I’ll Sing You a Song of the Islands (1972)
- A Southern Memoir (1975)
- That's What Life Is All About (1975)
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/ Fred Astaire) (1975)
- Tom Sawyer (1976)
- At My Time of Life (1976)
- Bing Crosby Live at the London Palladium (1976)
- Feels Good, Feels Right (1976)
- Beautiful Memories (1977)
- Bingo Viejo (1977)
- Seasons (Bing Crosby's last studio album released during his lifetime) (1977)
- A Little Bit of Irish (posthumous edition, recorded in 1966) (1993)
- Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
- On the Sentimental Side (posthumous edition, recorded in 1962; Bing Crosby's latest studio album) (2010)
- Dixie Lee (first wife)
- Gary Crosby (son)
- Dennis Crosby (son)
- Phillip Crosby (son)
- Lindsay Crosby (son)
- Kathryn Crosby (second wife)
- Harry Crosby (son)
- Mary Crosby (daughter)
- Nathaniel Crosby (son)
- Denise Crosby (granddaughter)
- Larry Crosby (brother)
- Bob Crosby (brother)
- Category